


Autumnal Eclipse: Jinyoung's Solstice Slumber

by AnonymousJackalope



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Curses, Family, Friendship, Halloween, Multi, Necromancy, Spells & Enchantments, Spooky, Supernatural Elements, Vampires, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2020-12-26 23:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21108830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymousJackalope/pseuds/AnonymousJackalope
Summary: One day it went horribly wrong.I don’t know what spell it was; my interest doesn’t lie with the dead, but I heard a drop. His head hit the floor and his shadow grew large and red, encompassing the whole room. I heard whispers of voices when I ran in and, when I saw Jinyoung on the floor, his body shaking, I knew he’d done something wrong. The dead spirits he so liked to talk to, were now plaguing him, and by rereading his books and seeing the warnings, he would soon become one of them. My brother was going to die...but I refused to let that happen.***A spell gone wrong puts student Necromancer Jinyoung in a coma, the only one able to save him being his Warlock younger brother Youngjae. Trying to keep his condition a secret, in an attempt to save his brother on his own, Youngjae finds out the cure to his brother's curse might mean betraying all of their friends. Looks like he has some decisions to make...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnonymousCabybara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymousCabybara/gifts).

> Hi everyone, I'm back with another GOT7 fanfition, this time with a supernatural twist. I hope you enjoy it! See if you can tell what supernatural creatures of the night each of the members are :D

“Where’s Jinyoung?” JB asked.

We were walking through the woods, away from his house towards school to meet the others. The mist was thicker than usual. 

“He’s not feeling well so he stayed at home.”

“Is he sick?” He stopped moving and looked directly at me, his red eyes glinting in the moonlight. “Him being sick is bad, considering what he does. Should we go back? Those...things he talks too might catch him when he’s most vulnerable and then-”

I took a deep breath and gave him the biggest smile I could muster. “I put a protection spell on him.”

“What?”

I smiled wider, even though that was the last thing I felt like doing and clapped my hands on both of his shoulders. “He’s well protected, so he’ll be fine. Okay?”

There’s a look JB gets in his eyes when he isn’t sure about something but he nods anyway. If I smile at him, he tends to believe anything I say. I pat him one more time and we continue our walk in night-time silence. 

I  **had** put a spell on Jinyoung, but it wasn’t for protection. It was a stasis spell. The dead already had their hands on him, all I could do was keep him from becoming more like them. I had to visit the library at school, to find a book that could help me cure whatever was wrong, and for that I needed more time… Of course I didn’t want to scare anyone, so I had to keep the secret to myself, but in order to find the answers, I’d need time alone...and with our big group of friends getting closer to us, I knew it would be hard to get away. 

Reaching the group. JB clapped hands with Jackson and we all turned onto the road that led to the school. 

“Where’s Yugyeom?” JB asked.  _ If he kept asking where people were, I was going to lose it.  _

Bam Bam was the one who answered. “He’s at home. He said he didn’t feel well.” 

“That’s coincidental, Jinyoung is sick too.”

“Oh shit,” Jackson jumped in, “is he going to be okay?”

“Yeah. Youngjae put a protection spell on him though...” JB’s head tilted back in my direction and I gave a short smile and nod, before becoming blank faced again. “...so he’ll be fine.”

“Maybe Yugyeom’s sick because Jinyoung’s sick.” Mark mentioned, biting away at an apple.

“But Jinyoung’s been sick before and it’s never affected Yugyeom’s...state.” Bam Bam recounted, wincing as Mark took another bite of his apple.

It was a throwaway comment but it made my chest squeeze so much I stopped walking. Bam was right, but the intellectual in me knew what Mark said was a possibility. I would have to check or it would keep bothering me all day. What was wrong with him wasn’t just a common cold… Stress, and annoyance, prickled within my body and I started breathing more rapidly. Luckily no-one had noticed I’d stopped walking and I was able to sneak down a separate path. I was going to be so moody with JB later. 

***

Bam Bam and Yugyeom lived together in those days, so all I had to do was run to their apartment and let myself in. The stench hit me the minute I walked in there. That tipped me off and I ran all the way up to Yugeyom’s room.

“Gyeom?!” I shouted, banging on his door. The door wasn’t locked and I barreled through to the stench of the century. His body was lying on the ground and his arm was stretched over his opposite shoulder, his leg twisted beneath him uncomfortably. “Yugyeom?”

His body didn’t move, but I heard his voice speaking into the wall. “Youngjae?”

“Oh god.” I walked over, my arm covering my nose, to see his face. “You’re decaying.” 

He didn’t move, but his eyes blinked, one of the eyelashes getting stuck and being a bit delayed in going back up. “You noticed?”

“How could Bam not have noticed!” I shouted, kneeling down.

“Well, it happened gradually. I managed to spray some air freshner before he left for school.”

“How did you convince him you were sick?”

“Honestly, I don’t know how he fell for that. He’s pretty unobservant.” He managed to give me a winning smile. “I’m fine though, really.”

“You are not fine, you can’t even get up and eat. Here.” I took out the small knife I kept in my pocket and began cutting away a small square of my flesh. Years of Jinyoung picking and cutting off bits of skin had hardened me up to the task and when I was done, I placed the square into Yugyeom’s mouth. With a quick spell, I healed myself as he chewed. 

“You taste…rather nice, Youngjae.”

“I’ll try not to be weirded out by that and take it as a compliment. Can you sit up?”

I watched him fix his leg and unwind his arm. I helped him get into sitting position and by that time his face was more of a vampire pallor rather than a dead body’s white sheet. More of a good look for a zombie. 

“I think I know why you’re here.” He mentioned, turning to me. “Is something wrong? Is Jinyoung okay?”

“Yeah!” My answer was loud and with too much immediacy. I took a deep breath before I spoke again. “Nothing’s wrong with him, but he’s sick so I came to check on you-”

“Cut the shit Jae, I'm directly connected to him. Something’s wrong.”

“And I’m going to fix it, don’t worry.” I smiled again, hoping that it worked just as well on Yugyeom as it did on JB. 

“And what? Until then, you’ll keep feeding me bits of your flesh? I’m not a normal zombie Youngjae. You’re brother brought me back to life and his magic keeps me that way. If something is really wrong, I have a right to know-”

“He’s just sick.” I reassured him again. “It’s made him weak. I’m taking care of him, and until he’s better, I’ll take care of you, alright? I promise.”

Yugyeom looked sceptical but nodded anyway. I had to feed him some more to enable him to get to his feet, but we agreed he wouldn’t go to school that day...which meant I had to trek the way there myself. 

Misty Ridge was pretty beautiful at night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, welcome to Chapter 2 :D

Misty Ridge was home to dozens of different supernatural beings. Settled as a city about fifty decades ago, vampires, witches, warlocks, zombies and more all lived there, and it boasted the best school in any nocturnal society; Eclipse Academy. It’s library, the Penumbra, possessed books from magic's first practitioners, early anatomy on werewolves, and the precise way to reattach a fairies wing. Anything that a creature of the night wanted to know, was held there, with easy access for anyone who wanted to peruse it...but here I was busting my ass trying to get there. 

I made my way up the hill from Yugyeom and Bam Bam’s house and came upon the beautiful night scene that was the academy; it’s spires reached up high and I was always humbled when I gazed upon it. Taking the stairs two at a time, I passed by other students as I ran for the library. Visiting Yugyeom had given me the break I needed to head to the Penumbra, to look for a counterspell for my brother, but before I could get there, an arm grabbed me and I was spun around. Foiled again.

“Where’d you go?” Jackson asked me. It was his strong hand that was holding onto me and pulling me in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go. “We’ve been looking all over for you, and by we-” he jerked me closer and took a deep inhale, “I mean me.”

“I had to stop to pick something up.” I mumbled. It was useless to try and escape him now. His forceful collection of me took us too close to our first class; it’d be too suspicious if I tried to leave now. 

“You should have said something. JB wanted to look for you, but he got crowded as soon as he set foot on the grounds.” Jackson held a malicious smile on his face as he said this, but I knew he was just jealous; JB getting lots of attention was no new thing, it annoyed me too, though I’d never say so. 

Jackson let me go when we were in sight of the classroom door and put his hands in his pockets. I took that opportunity to massage my sore arm. “I also...kinda wanted to ask you if you’d make something for me.”

“Make you something?” I asked, distracted by the crowd, probably the one Jack had been talking about before, milling in front of our classroom’s window. 

“I know you’re taking care of Jinyoung cause he’s sick, and I don’t want to add to your work load or anything but…” His hand rubbed his neck. “The full moon hit me hard last time and I still haven’t recovered.”

“Oh...” I gave him a pitying grimace.

“With the full moon about to come again and my body feeling as sore as it does-” I heard the pain in his voice and knew what he left unsaid. He’d never ask for my help outright unless he really needed it.

“I can make you a poultice, bro,” I smiled. “It’s no problem. I can make one for you next month too.”

“Thanks, Youngjae.” He slapped me on the back in thanks just as the bell rang. The crowd in front of us finally dispersed, and in the now visible window I could see a smiling, yet overwhelmed, JB behind the window. Jackson and I entered, taking our seats.

“Have fun?” Jackson asked him.

JB fluffled his hair into his face, a thing I knew he did when he was shy, before he flicked it back with a renewed air of confidence. “I was hungry. It happens.”

“God, you’re disgusting.” The girl next to him seethed, but he only flashed her a winning smile in response. One girl he could handle, a crowd was a different story. I shook my head at his hypocritical nature as the professor made his way in. 

***

“Youngjae!” 

I winced at the sound of my name. I’d tried to sneak out after class was over, but there JB was already onto me. His arm came around my shoulders and I felt the insistent urge to kiss his cheek. 

“Can you kindly, let go.” I muttered to him, hiding my annoyance with a coy smile.

“Aww, do I make you uncomfortable?” He pouted, still not removing his arm as we made our way down the halls. Every eye was on him. “I thought we’d gotten to a point in our friendship where my presence didn’t bother you?”

“Your presence doesn’t, but your touch does.” I pulled his hand off my shoulders, but instead he kept hold of my hand, cocky smile glued to his face. 

“Don’t get too excited JB,” Jackson joked, coming up behind us, “but I think Youngjae wants to rip your clothes off.” 

I let out a joyless laugh. “Funny.”

JB pulled me close and whispered into my ear. “I told you it’s fine...if you wanna do that.”

I yanked my entire body away from him but that only caused the two of them to begin laughing behind me. 

“We’re just kidding, Jae!” Jackson shouted. “Where are you rushing off too anyway? We have a break now.”

I swallowed back rude words and turned to face them. “I actually have some research to do, so if you don’t mind-” Before I could finish speaking, a hand caught my neck from behind and I froze, eyes closing in deep vexation within its grip.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, Youngjae?” It was Bam Bam’s whispering voice.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shivered under his touch. Opening my eyes, I saw JB grin at our young friend and I felt an ominous foreboding from the rest of the group.

“You lost  **the game** the other day.” Bam hissed, squeezing. “You owe me blood.” 

I blinked once and Bam turned up in front of me, a petulant smile on his face. My patience for all of my friends was wearing thin.

“Do we really have to do this now?” I asked.

They all nodded, in a weird hive mind sort of way. 

“Bam,” I sighed, “you know I can’t give you my blood. Witch blood is forbidden to vampires.”

“Well, give me something else then. I fasted for this, and I want something good.”

I looked at all of them in turn and knew they wouldn’t let me go until I did this. Letting my head fall back in defeat, I resolved to walk back the way I ‘d come. Any other day this would have been fine, but Jinyoung was close to death and this was such a waste of time. 

“I’ll have to give you blood by proxy.” I announced.

Bam Bam shrugged. “Fine.” I looked to my left, long enough to see Bam Bam wink at a girl we were passing. “Just as long as I get it.”

***

I led them all to the woods, having picked up a cauldron along the way, and, when we were far enough from the milling students, I got my so-called friends to stand in a circle around me. 

“So, what’s the plan, Jae?” Bam asked.

“I’m making a potion. I’ll need your spit.” I held the cauldron out to him and his fangs flashed as he spit his saliva into the pot.

Pulling different ingredients out of my bag, I began forming the potion, swilling it in my own mouth until it turned green, red, and finally clear. Then I emptied the contents into a vial and held it out to Bam.

“Get the prey of your choice to drink this.” He tried to snatch it but I pulled away. “Not a witch-”

“Ahh.”

“...and they will allow you to drink from them without any issue.” I passed him the vial over to him carefully and watched his eyes shine in the light as he smiled. It made me shiver. “God, your appetite is so twisted.”

“I like what I like Youngjae.” 

“Well yeah,” I began packing up, this time holding resolve to leave, “while you do that-”

“No, you gotta help me pick.”

I looked up from closing my bag to his smug face. “What?”

“You gotta help me pick the prey. It’s your debt after all.”

“I feel like it won’t matter to you as much if you can’t see him do it.” Mark stated, his hand in a bag of chips.

I stared at all my friends and resisted the urge to place a binding spell on them all. 

“Fine, I pick the pixie in our History class. Can I go now?”

Bam made a clicking noise with his tongue. “Nu uh, YoungJae. You gotta make her drink this.” He tossed the vial back in my direction.

“What!”

He pointed back towards the school, arms folded, the fur coat he’d been wearing that day making him bigger than he actually was. “Find the pixie sweet and get her to drink this. Give me a signal when you do.”

“Bam, we don’t have history until the early morning!”

“Then get her to drink it at dinner.” He patted my back and the other guys walked away with him, except for JB.

“I told you, you shouldn’t have played  **the game** if you weren’t prepared to pay.”

“I WAS prepared to pay, I just...I need…”

Oblivious as ever, JB ignored my drifting words.“You keep rushing off, is there somewhere you need to be?”

**THE LIBRARY.**

“No..” I replied, without much choice, “I just wanted...to do some reading in the break.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What supernatural creature is JB??? Actually so wild


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short, but I really wanted to post on Halloween so here we go :)

Waiting for dinner meant there were two full classes I had to go through where Bam Bam and the other guys wouldn’t take their eyes off of me. If I tried to leave they would either follow or assume I was trying to run out on my part of the bargain. I was trapped each way.

When dinner finally came, I looked out for our purple pixie friend while the guys hung in the hallway watching me. The prey I chose was at random but when I saw her coming up the hallway, with her backpack full of books and her glasses falling to the bridge of her nose, I felt a tiny twinge of guilt. She was someone I always saw in the library when I went, that must have been the reason she popped into my head. The closer she got, the more my heart grew heavy thinking about what I had to do.

“Getting nervous?” A voice whispered. I looked to my left and saw Bam Bam, his eyes silver and gleeful. “Your heart beat is getting faster. Either that or you have a crush.” He chuckled.

“Why do I have to do this anyway?” I complained, leg bouncing as she got closer and closer. 

“Because you lost  **the game** .” With a shove, I was pushed into the pixie’s path and she bumped into me. Her glasses nearly slipped off her nose but she managed to save them at the last minute. Then she looked up, recognising me.

“Youngjae?”

“Momo, hey. Sorry.” I smiled, trying to pull off an accidental meeting. I could feel Bam Bam’s eyes boring into my back.

“No, it’s alright.” she smiled back as her wings fluttered behind her. “It’s actually a good thing I ran into you.” She took off a strap from her backpack and began rummaging. “I found this book in the lower levels of the penumbra and it’s about safe summonings and I thought maybe your brother would want it…” I watched her look in her bag for a while, and grimaced as I pulled the vial from my pocket. “I remember him mentioning you were worried about him doing things without a guide, so I came across this book-”

“Momo?” I pulled her attention back to me, my face apologetic as I held the vial up so she could see. “I might need a favour.”

She stared at the vial in my hands and I watched her eyes go from excited to disheartened. “You played  **the game** didn’t you?” Her voice was sad.

“Yes.”

“And I’m your proxy?”

I nodded my head. There wasn’t much else I could do. I only hoped she’d understand.

She took a deep breath, then forcefully zipped her bag shut and reshouldered it. Snatching the vial from me she uncorked it before my very eyes. 

“Wait, wait!” I pulled on her wrist and forced her over to one side of the hall. “You’re going to drink it here?” 

“What’s the point of delaying it?”

“Well…” I looked around and saw that Bam Bam wasn’t where I left him. “Don’t you want to know who I lost to?”

“Not really. I thought we were friends Youngjae, how could you put me up as your proxy?”

“I didn’t think I would lose. I’m sorry.”

“Everyone who plays the game loses.” She glowered. “And considering you need a proxy, you must have played with a vampire. You know how dumb that is!”

I struggled to find words to comfort her, and in my silence she kept on berating me. 

“And because I know that vampires don’t usually drink from magic users, I know exactly who you lost too.” She swatted me on the arm. “You’re a bad warlock!”

“Ow! Come on Momo, it’s just a little blood. Do me this one favour.”

“You think I like the idea of being some vampires blood filled candy cane?”

“That’s what the potion is for.” For this, she swatted me again. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but it’s a friend. Can you do me a favour, just this once?”

She stared at me for a while, before looking back at the vial. Then she sighed. “Fine, but just this once.” Quickly, and without much show, she downed the vials contents. “If I hear that you’ve been playing the game again, I’ll tell your brother.” She whispered, right before her eyes grew a dazed expression. This spread through to the rest of her body and her wings started fluttering enough for her to float slightly off the ground. Then she opened her mouth. “Youngjae…” Her voice was a disgustingly sweet trill, “do you know where Bam Bam is?”

I shouldn’t have been, but I was proud at how fast the potion worked. “He was just in the hallway. I’m sure I can find him for you-”

Fingers pinched my neck, cutting me off.

“Right here, sweet.” The illustrious vampire had reappeared. Bowing magnanimously from behind me, he held out his hand to his newly enthralled prey, his coat flying out behind him. “I’ve been looking for you. Why don’t we go outside for a walk? The moon is really pretty tonight.” 

She took his hand and as they passed me, he winked one silver eye in my direction. There was nothing I could do. I turned and watched them walk away, my other friends smiling and giving me weird looks as friends do. My guilt was disappearing as I recalled what I still had to do. I had to find a way to get rid of the rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When will Youngjae get to the library, honestly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiatus over 😅 Hope you enjoy!

JB led what was left of us to the food hall and we found a table in the thick of the crowd. Jackson and Mark went to wait in line while JB and I stayed at the table. 

“You not hungry?” he asked. “I’m technically the only one who doesn’t need food.”

“No. Not really.” If I was to get anything, he was the first person to steal something off my plate. He didn't need food, but he definitely didn't hold back about wanting some.

“What’s up with you today?” He asked again, flicking my finger as he learnt back in his chair. “You seem…”

_ Agitated? Exasperated?  _

“What? I seem what?”  _ What could this lust obsessed beast possibly have to say about me? _

_ “ _ You're just not yourself."

"His hearts beating about twice the normal rate it would usually be." Jackson announced when he sat back on the table. He’d grabbed a steak while Mark came back with a lot of fruits and large bowl of oats covered in syrup.

"How do you know how fast his heart's beating?" JB asked him.

"I have animal instincts too." He replied. 

"Speaking of animal instincts." Mark chimed in, beginning to munch on his food. "What's happening over there?" He pointed with his thumb and we all looked in the direction of what appeared to be a confrontation. One we were actual very familiar with. 

"It's Bam Bam again." JB sighed, getting up.

"With the new coven." Jackson wasn't far behind, and Mark lifted his spoon to get a few more mouthfuls of oats before he walked behind and joined them. This was my chance.

I got up too, looking as if I intended to join the group, but I lingered closer to the courtyard entrance, watching the crowd out the corner of my eye. The confrontation was between Bam Bam and the resident school coven of vampires Cross Gene. They got into altercations all the time but bam bam liked to antagonise them and someone always had to be there to close things up. Jackson and JB took lead on this and without anyone being the wiser, I slipped out into the courtyard and finally started walking to the library. He may have irked me, but I sent a silent ‘thank you’ to Bam Bam.

***

The library was one of the best places in the whole school. Not just because of its history but because it was  **big** . Bookcases went down into the ground rather than up above, and spiralling staircases took you lower and lower until you felt like you were in the bowels of the earth. I’m pretty sure no one has seen the whole thing because it keeps going down. 

I came in at the second level from the ground courtyard entrance and headed straight for the necromancy section of witch arts. No one really hung out there except for other people studying necromancy but the faculty was literally only five people including my brother, so it was pretty much empty when I got there.

I headed for the summoning section and started skimming book spines for any relevant books to do with possessions or summonings gone wrong and had no luck. I had no doubt Jackson would come and sniff me out again, because annoying friends liked company, so I didn’t have a lot of time to find something of use, and the weight of my situation was really getting to me. I had no choice but to head to the necromancy faculty floor librarian.

She was an imposing woman, one of my seniors as well as a librarian, but all the female students loved her because she had a no-nonsense attitude. I liked her too, but she was slightly intimidating to talk to, sort of like my brother in a way; I wondered how the two of them even talked to each other but without any other option, I made my way over to her desk. 

“Miss?” I asked, stepping up cautiously. She happened to be reading a book at that precise moment, and reacting to my voice her eyes looked at me from on top of it. 

“Warlock. How can I help you?”

I struggled to speak under her gaze. “So...I’m doing a...project.”

She raised a speculative eyebrow.

“And I need to find a book on necromancy summonings...gone...wrong. Like...really wrong.”

She looked back at her book before reaching for a bookmark on her desk and placing it in the book open on her desk. 

“Young warlock, I know for a fact that you aren’t part of the necromancy faculty. Why would you all of a sudden have an interest in summonings or the fatal fact that they could go wrong?”

“My brother, Jinyoung, is a necromancer.”

Her eyebrow goes up again.

“He asked me to come and get a book for him.”

She nodded slowly. “And, the gone wrong part?”

I belatedly remembered Momo’s words from earlier and decided it would be best to play the part of worried brother.

“I’m worried about him.” I placed my hands on her desk for good measure. “He does these dangerous spells and I feel apprehensive all the time; if something happened I wouldn’t know what to do to help him.”

“So, you’re being proactive?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m being proactive.”

She nodded her head and pursed her lips. Then she rose from her chair, and took a few steps around it. “Follow me.” 

  
  


She lead me back down the main corridor, but went further than I had, circling the floor to what looked like the middle of the large cavern we were in. 

“Every book you’ve taken out of this library has been of a scientific nature…You would benefit from a potion of protection I think.” She took a sharp turn and picked up a large volume to her left and passed it in my direction before she kept walking. “You also have a wonderful voice, so a lullaby lulling the dead to sleep would also work.” She pulled out a book to her right. “And then there’s the heavy stuff…” She spun on her toes to look at me. Her face was grave. “This is only being given to you for the most serious of circumstances…” but then it turned into a warm smile. “Only because I admire the care you have for your brother.” I nod, comforted by her warmer exterior and happily accept the giant book she adds to my stack. “I now put your brother in your care...but if anything truly dangerous happens, I hope that you’ll come to me.” She reaches out a comforting hand and holds my elbow, her smile growing warmer. “If you ever need me, my name is Irene.” I nod, as truthfully as I can and watch her walk back towards her desk. 

I immediately ran to a nearby desk and spread the books out in front of me. The first one I flipped through was full of potions, chemical ingredients I was familiar with and some I wasn’t. It looked helpful, but didn’t really have the ‘work quickly’ affect I wanted. The second, I skimmed through. The lullaby would be no help to my brother now; I wanted to wake him up. The last was the big book, which was black with a border of red, screaming ‘warning’. I opened it to the contents page and looked for anything relating to what I wanted and one chapter stood out.

“Summoning emergencies resulting in comatose states.” I whispered to myself.

I flicked to the page and saw an abundance of summoning related spells. I didn’t recognise any of them but the cures were immediately related to what spell he had done, so I figured I would have to go home and figure out what he’d done before I worked out how to fix it. At least I was close to answers, and the weight felt a little lighter.

“Was he here?” I heard a voice say. I slammed the book shut and pulled back towards a hidden alcove as two pairs of footsteps made their way closer to me. 

“Yes, but surely there’s no need for you to come and find him, Mr.Wang.” That was the voice of Irene.

_ How had Jackson already found me?  _ I crept around the corner and watched from the shadows as they walked where I had been. Jackson knew my scent well but he was easily distracted, and a terrible multi-tasker. He could track a scent if that was all he was focused on but, once he started talking, he lost focus. Thanks to that, I slipped around the corner and made my way out of the library as fast as I could. I had to get this book to my locker before any of my friends saw it.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading 🙌


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet I reckon

"Whatcha doing?" I heard from behind me as I closed my locker door shut. I nearly jumped out of my own skin but it was only Mark munching on chips behind me.

I shook my head and smiled. "Nothing. I just came from the library. Had to get some books."

He nodded. "The guys are looking for you you know." 

“oh?"

"Well, after you ditched us in the cafeteria, Jackson went looking for you."

"Right." I looked around, seeing none of the other guys with him. He’s done a good job of finding me on his own. The hallways were emptier at this time of night. There were still lectures going on but it was around this time that students had separate study or practical which they chose to do at home. Like me, I had a few things to do for class but there was a more pressing issue that had me wanting to go home.

"You got any other classes, Mark?" I asked, anxious but knowing I should keep up the conversation until it reached its natural end. 

He shrugged his shoulders and kept eating his chips. "I have an economics class but I know the guys wanted to leave early."

"What? Why?"

Leave Mark to look like he was disinterested in the conversation he himself started. He leant against the locker and shrugged again. "JB thought you were worried about Jinyoung and that's why you've been acting distracted all day, so we decided to skip and go home with you to check on him."

"You, what!" I reopened my locker quickly and pulled out my bag, ignoring how heavy it was now that the big ass book from the library was in there. Mark simply watched me.

"Hey, it's no big deal. We were gonna see if Yugyeom was alright too." 

"Yeah." I shut my locker, stepping away and thankfully he didn't follow. "He should come first. I'll meet you guys there."

"But we were meeting here though-”

I was gone before I heard him speak, running down the hallway until I made it to the front doors. Then I sprinted down all the steps and headed down the road to my house.

They couldn't know. I had to keep them from knowing. I had to beat them there.

***

Jinyoung and I didn't live too far from campus but I was still sweating by the time I got there. If I'd had the time, I would have checked on Yugyeom myself, but I knew I shouldn't risk it if they were going to stop there anyway, so I rushed for home, unlocked my door and made my way inside.

The thing about necromancy magic was that it tainted wherever it was practiced. Even if you had no prior knowledge of it, you'd feel something you'd never experienced before and it always felt wrong and un-human. I'd gotten used to it over the past couple years but now...I felt a distinct difference. Rather than a strange peculiar and unnatural feeling, I felt shaken, like my very soul itself was in mortal peril. It's why I stayed clear of the stuff and stuck to basic incantations and potions. 

I made my way up the stairs, while simultaneously trying to calm my growing fear. This was my house, I knew nothing there could hurt me, but still my body thought otherwise. This was all because of Jinyoung.

His bedroom door was partially ajar, and I could just about glimpse his bed from outside. His hand hung down from it, floating above the floor; it wasn't hanging when I’d left him. I walked in and edged around the casting circle in front of me to get to his bed. The hand that had fallen lay an inch above the floor with shadows swimming up to it. I quickly grabbed it to pull it away. 

His face was frozen, so I couldn't tell if he was in pain or not, but it still tore at me to see him that way; I was overcome by feelings of urgency and fear and it was doing terrible things to me. I wasn't the person to deal with emergencies like this. Emergencies like this usually happened to me. My older brother was the person who always knew how to save me. As I stared at his unmoving body, a memory came to mind.

_ "Did you poison yourself again?" I heard Jinyoung ask. My head was poised over the sink after a bad potions experiment but I could feel him laughing at me.  _

_ "I'm not in the mood ,bro.”  _

_ I felt a hand pat my head before he went into the fridge next to me. “Did someone mix up his poisons?” _

_ “No.” I breathed, feeling my stomach heave.  _

_ “You must have if you’re reacting like this.” _

_ “I’m fine.” I huffed, lifting my head slightly to look at his impudent face. “It’ll pass.” _

_ “Poison,” he began, in his most impertinent voice, “if not immediately fatal, will eat at your insides until you die. If potent enough, and with a calculated amount, you could be sick for days until death comes to your door.” _

_ “Stop it.”  _

_ “How much did you use?” _

_ “Jinyoung, I swear-” _

_ “Actually,  _ ** _what_ ** _ did you use? That’s probably a more important question-” _

_ “I don’t know!” I shouted, fully lifting my head. I knew my face was pale but I could care less when it came to his pompous attitude. “I don’t know what I used and I don’t know how much because I  _ ** _suspect_ ** _ one of your  _ ** _friends_ ** _ changed the labels on my ingredients AGAIN _ ** _. _ ** _ You telling me I’m going to die a horrible death doesn’t get rid of my anxiety right now!” _

_ “Alright, alright calm down.” _

_ “DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!” I shouted, before shoving my face back over the sink feeling my stomach lose all strength.  _

_ He was silent for a while, then I heard him rummaging in one our cupboards. Then a small vial came into view.  _

_ “Have this.” The label read ‘Activated Charcoal’. _

_ I grabbed it without saying thank you. And inhaled the whole bottle. My stomach calmed a gradual degree and I didn’t feel the pressing urge to keep my head over the sink. I looked to him and nodded in thanks instead. “Keep them out of my store cupboard next time? They don’t know how dangerous everything in there is.” _

_ He nodded back. “Don’t hold a grudge okay, they're your friends too."  _

I remember I huffed in his face. Stress made me a bad person, I couldn’t deny it. I loved my brother...even if he always acted like that.

I checked his pulse; it was far weaker than the last time. I felt his forehead, which was cold and knew that nothing had changed. 

The book said I had to figure out what spell he cast, in order to make him better so I stared at the recesses of his room. 

The wall across from his bed was full of diagrams. It was impossible for me to understand them all even if I studied hard: he'd been dedicated to this practice long before I even knew about it.

I looked over at his desk next, knowing I would need a closer look but fearful of the circle that took up most of his room. A summoning circle served as a pool. Once it was open, demons, ghosts and even more than the dead, could swim in it and reach out and grab you if you weren't careful. The whole thing terrified me but I knew the spell would be on his desk. I skirted around the walls and tiptoed past the circle, which hissed. Dark hands reached up, their fingertips ready to reach for my trouser leg but I bounded past until I made it to the small free space in front of his desk chair.

I flicked through the different papers with frantic hands. There were drawings, a few words in Latin and Italian, but nothing I could understand. Then I came across card at the bottom; black paper with stark white across it. There was a circle, similar to the one he'd drawn on the ground so I picked it up and turned to face the pond of death my brother had made and saw writing on the side.  _ Summoning - ninth degree. _ I stared at my brother's comatose state and realised he'd attempted to summon something that was far beyond his capabilities. 

He was only a fifth degree necromancer, which was the highest in his faculty but not strong enough to control a spirit like this. Why would he even do this? Put himself in such danger when he knew he couldn’t handle it? I’d be asking him that when he woke up. 

I pulled my bag around and pulled out all the books. I searched in the largest one and looked for a circle similar to the one he'd drawn and found it instantly. There was a list next to it of different levels of summoning. I found the level index and discovered many cautionary writings, 500 written in small print that he must have ignored. 

  1. **_ Doing this summoning without proper preparation may make the spirit hard to control._**

  1. **_ Doing this summoning without the proper experience may put your soul in mortal peril._**

  1. **_ Doing this summoning to control a demon you aren’t equipped to control may instead put you under the demon’s control._**

The list went on and on for one whole page until I got to the bottom. 

  1. **_ Doing this summoning without any safety precautions may cause death._**

I felt my heart drop in my chest but I tried to ignore it. I continued, flicked to the page that held counter measures if any of these bad things happened. 

_1\. _ _If_ ** _ the soul is in mortal peril, it must be guarded from any more attack. _ **

I had put a protective spell on his body but I hadn’t put one on his soul. I turned to him and realised I’d left him vulnerable all day. And mentally kicked myself. I turned back to the book and flipped through to the spell it suggested. I read the incantation, placing in my brother’s name and turned back to him. Having been frozen before, I saw his eyebrow twitch and a soft groan escaped his lips. I let out a breath of relief. Yes, he was in pain, but his silence was scarier than any noise he could ever make. I went back to the book. 

_2\. _ ** _In case of any wrongdoing, do not erase the summoning circle, for any damage to the soul is now directly connected to it. _ **

Well I’d done one thing right by keeping it there. It was the one thing he taught me when I came to watch him do a summoning once. He said that if anything happened to him that I should never erase the circle he made, or I may do more damage. 

_3\. In_ ** _ case of connection to a malevolent spirit, disconnection can only happen if the soul is still whole._ **

“If the soul is still whole”? What did that mean? Was that something I could check? I looked at the index and found that there was a spell that could help me do that. I grabbed the book and skirted around the pool again to get to the foot of his bed. I reopened the book, and read that I needed his blood, and my blood mixed together and a simple incantation. I balanced the book on the foot of the bed and pulled my knife out of my pocket. Cutting my finger caused the pool to hiss and I recoiled, almost losing my balance. They could smell my blood and it made those inside writhe restlessly. I reached over the bed stand and was half lying on my brother trying to reach his hand.

_ Why did he have to make the circle so big _ , I thought to myself. 

I cut his finger and saw his eyebrow twitch again and then placed our bloodied hands together. I uttered the incantation and waited until I saw something glowing in Jinyoung’s chest. It was a sphere that seemed to be encumbered in flame, but part of it had been dissolved away and was blackening in comparison to the gold of the rest of it. If that was his soul, it was no longer whole. I drew back on the bed and read the book with newfound vigour. There had to be a way to fix this. 

** _4\. If the soul is no longer whole, it must be regrown to its full capacity before severing it from the circle. _ **

_ Regrown? Could a soul be regrown? _

** _4.This must be done within the space of casting - at maximum a fortnight. _ **

I flicked through, to the next page that listed how to do this but it was limited in what it had to tell me. The paragraph was a vague three sentences which read:

** _To regrow the soul, you must find its foundations. Find what makes them whole and what makes them grow, and take it so that they can become what they once were. Bear in mind that what you find, may also lose what you wish to grow. _ **

“Find what makes them grow”? What did that mean? It was vague and held various interpretations from someone far more into written verse than me. Was this what all necromancy books were like? How was I supposed to find what makes him grow? Or whole? I slammed the book shut and healed both of our bloodied hands, watching the orb as it glowed in his chest, stuck for an answer. At best I had twelve days to figure it out, as he’d cast the summoning spell two days ago. I also had no idea how I was going to hide what happened to him for that long from-

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**

Even thinking of the devils, there were our friends to check on him. 

“Youngjae!” I heard JB call up.

“Yo YG!” Was Bam Bam’s voice after him, along with a few laughs. I didn’t want to let them in, but I couldn’t leave them; if they stayed at the door any longer, they’d find their own way in. JB knew where the extra keys were. As I hesitated, they kept knocking. I looked back to Jinyoung, wanting an answer and knowing he couldn’t give me one and instead saw that his soul light had brightened. The knocks came and the light grew more intense gold. The part that had been dissolved away and had blackened shook as it seemingly fought the glow. 

“Youngjae! Open up!”

“Find what makes him grow...” I mumbled to myself.  _ I think I’d found it.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long, I've had a nightmare trying to plan a story that I didn't originally plan out all the way. I was simply writing this for fun, hope you still enjoy it though.

“Hey.” I said. Only JB, Jackson and Bam Bam seemed to be at my door when I opened it. JB’s hand was currently inside a plant pot and I looked down at him, forcing him to laugh uncomfortably. There was a key in there but it seemed he hadn’t found it.

“Hey…” He stood up and brushed the soil off of his hands. “We were worried about you.” 

“Yeah, where’s Jinyoung?” Jackson asked, clapping me on the back and moving past me. Bam Bam followed him. I hadn’t even invited them in. JB was the only one who waited for me to politely move away from the door, and I shut the door behind him.

“Jinyoung is sleeping.” I called out to Jackson, who was skirting the stairs, eager to go up. 

“Is he too sick for us to wake him up, or…”

“I’d leave him,” was my succinct reply. “Why did you call out YG earlier?”

“Isn’t Yugyeom here?” Bam Bam asked, turning to me. He and JB were standing in the living room.

“No he’s at home, didn’t you guys check on him?” 

Bam Bam shook his head. “We went back to mine, but he wasn’t there so we thought he might have come here... so he and Jinyoung could be sick together.”

“Well, why don’t you have Jackson out looking for him?” I looked to the werewolf but he shook his head, grimacing. 

“Mark’s looking.” He told me. “My nose is extra sensitive right now...so the smell of decay...not so good for me..”

I raised an eyebrow. “So...Mark knows where to look?” 

“He knows where the zombie hangs out, we thought we’d just leave it to him.”

“Are you sure we can’t just wake Jinyoung up?” Jackson asked again, lingering around the stairs. 

I stared at him, his puppy dog eyes constantly looking in the direction of Jinyoung’s bedroom and I knew he wouldn’t give up until he got to go up there.

I sighed. “Go. Try. He won’t wake up though.”

Next thing I knew, they were headed up and I had to race after them. I wasn’t worried about what they’d see, as I’d set up a glamour around Jinyoung, but all of them going up at once made me anxious. 

Jackson had opened the door by the time I got there and they all looked at Jinyoung’s unmoving form on the bed. 

“Oh, we can’t wake him up.” JB whispered. “Look at him. He needs his rest.”

“Like I said.” I whispered back, folding my arms. Jackson pouted but shut the door quietly. They made their way back downstairs and lingered in the living room, doing what I deplored most...touching things. I wanted to race them out but I knew that would look weird, so I simply waited in silence hoping they’d get the silent hint. 

"So, why were you in the library?" Jackson asked, taking a perch against the wall.

"Who?”

"You. Bam Bam got into a fight with the upper-class coven and you were suddenly nowhere to be found "

I tried to joke it off. "You know I don't like violence."

"Still. You've been acting weird all day."

"It's ‘cause his brother's sick." JB replied, coming to my defense. “Leave him alone."

"I get that he's worried, I'm worried too..but still...ditching us to go to the library?"

“Some of us have class work to do and can’t get extensions because there’s a full moon in the sky, Jackson.”

His eyes hardened and he took a step toward me but JB rushed to my defense, again. “Hey, hey.” He, in turn, looked at both of us. “Knock it off.” Jackson grimaced but took a step back, allowing JB to turn to me. “You know you shouldn’t antagonise him when there’s a full moon so close by.” He whispered.

The last thing I wanted to do was apologise, I was far too on edge for that, but maybe that could be used to my advantage. At the end of the day, the best way to get away with a lie, was to tell the truth. 

“I’m sorry. I’m just tired. Spirits are drawn to a necromancer’s energy and I have to use mine to protect him. It just makes me a little cranky...I’m sorry.” I threw the last apology in Jackson’s direction. He didn’t look amused but he nodded, at least acknowledging it. 

“I’m grateful that you guys came to check on him, and me, really, but I’ve got this. You don’t have to worry about it. Honestly, we should be more worried about Yugyeom.”  _ Deflecting. Deflecting was a good option.  _ “Are you sure Mark will be able to find him?”

“Well,” Bam Bam piped up. “If Jinyoung wasn’t so sick, we could ask him to use a tracking spell-”

“I could also do that.” I countered, “I am a warlock you know…”

He shrugged. “But we figured he’d be able to do it with his necromancy powers...considering Yugyeom’s dead and all.” He stared at me and I squinted at him. “But if you can do it-”

“Let’s just go out and look for him.”

***

Casting a spell to track a friend was the easiest spell in the universe, even for someone like me who only studied potions and alchemy magic, but unfortunately, since Yugyeom was dead, it was a pretty weak spell overall. The spell, albeit as weak as it was, lead us in the direction of the only human town in a fifty mile radius. 

“Why would he be down here?” JB asked aloud, as we made our way past the boundary that separated Misty Ridge from the rest of the world. 

“I don’t know.” I answered, staring at the compass I’d enchanted to lead us. “But this is where the spell says he is.”

“We really shouldn’t be down here…” Bam Bam mumbled. It wasn’t looked on favourably for us “supernatural beings” to mingle with humans, and when attending school it was banned entirely, but here we were. 

“We’re just here to find Yugyeom.” I told him. 

“Yeah but…”

“Apprehensive?” I countered, teasing, but that only got me a disapproving look from JB.

“Bam, if you’re uncomfortable, you can hang back.”

We’d just entered an alleyway that lead to the edges of town where we stopped. I looked at Bam Bam and saw that his face was pained. 

“Yeah. I’ll check the edges of town.”

“I’ll go with him.” Jackson added. “Maybe I’ll smell something.”

“What about your nose?” I called out to him as they walked away but he simply shrugged and headed away, vampire in tandem. 

Parting ways, JB and I made our way into town. There wasn't much of a nightlife, so there weren’t a lot of humans milling around, but the few that were, cast a look in our direction as we passed them. 

“If they start walking up to us and asking for your number, I will abandon you.” I hissed at my companion, but that only made JB laugh and wrap an arm around me.

“I’m sorry if my Incubus traits are an inconvenience to you, but please try to bear with it while we look for Yugyeom.”

I rolled my eyes and said nothing more about it, but soon we passed a group of girls who all took a peek in JB’s direction. It didn’t take long for us to be surrounded. 

“Are you new around here?” One asked.

Another grabbed her friend in excitement as she spoke. “Why have we never seen you before?”

“Do you go to that private school?”

I inwardly groaned at how easily they were enamoured. Five of them in total cooed and battled for JB’s favour. The questions didn’t stop, but luckily they weren’t directed at me, so I slipped away just like I said I would. I turned back and gave him a knowing wave. He gave me a grimace but didn’t call for me to stay and I made my way through the town alone, still tracking Yugyeom with the spell.

I exited what seemed to be the town's main street and headed through the back alleys. I passed a few houses until I turned the corner and the compass stopped. I looked up from it but didn’t see the prize of my search. It wasn’t like my spell was faulty. It should have at least led me to the person I wanted. I took one final look at it but knew that it was over.

I turned back, ready to gather everyone up and say he would turn up eventually, but stopped because I heard a munching sound. It was coming from around the corner. I hoped it wouldn’t be what I thought it was, but as I inched my way around the corner, I gathered that my instincts were correct and that I had a mess to clean up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So quick sum up:
> 
> Jinyoung and Youngjae are warlocks as we know,  
Bam is a Bampire 😜,  
Jackson is a werewolf,  
Yugyeom is a zombie,  
and we just found out JB is an Incubus (a sexy sex demon obviously. what else could he be🤷♀️ ).  
Only Mark's identity is left...honestly his is a difficult one
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
